Blue Jays phenom Vlad Guerrero Jr. blasts first two home runs

Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, May 14, 2019. (TONY AVELAR/AP)

SAN FRANCISCO – It was hours before first pitch (and the first home run of Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s career) and already the Blue Jays rookie was locked in.

Sitting in the visitors’ dugout at Oracle Park as the Giants took batting practice, Guerrero studied the flight of the ball, from the time it left the bat to where it flew in all parts of this spectacular stadium.

And then in the first inning of his first game on the same field that his father, Vlad Guerrero Sr., won the 2007 Home Run Derby, Vlad Jr. went deep – not once, but twice with the first two homers of his intensely anticipated career.

To the deepest part of the field with the first one, in fact, an historic blast off of Giants opener Nick Vincent, a shot measured by Statcast at a whopping 438 feet. The ball exited the park in a hurry and when it did, it made the prized prospect the youngest player in Jays history to bang his first home run.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays reacts after hitting a single in the second inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park on May 14, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images)

The second one was even more impressive. From the sound of ball cracking bat this one was a goner, an exit velocity of 113.74 miles per hour carrying it 451 feet.

“I did know that it was gone,” Guerrero said of that first home run, his first of four RBI in the Jays’ 7-3 win over the Giants. “I made very good contact. I hit it on the barrel and I knew it was going to be good.

“It was a good pitch and I just made great contact.”

Who knows where Guerrero’s career will end up? But the trajectory has certainly picked up steam over his past few games, validating the sky-high projections for the Montreal-born, Dominican-raised prodigy.

You can bet that the 31,320 in attendance will remember where they were for the 14th game of his big-league career. So too will former Jays centre fielder Kevin Pillar, who didn’t give chase to either Vlad home run, no-doubters that they were.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates with Randal Grichuk #15 after hitting a three-run home run against the San Francisco Giants in the sixth inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park on May 14, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images)

Four times he powerful third baseman hit the ball with an exit velocity higher than 110 m.p.h. – three hits and a screaming foul down the left-field line. It makes even the most seasoned veterans shake their had in awe at the prowess.

Baseball people are loathe to read too much into one night, but Jays manager Charlie Montoyo had trouble playing this one down. The potential impact the kid with the pedigree and tools to back it up can have on a Jays team for seasons to come is obvious to all who have seen him up close.

“He’s that good. He could carry a team if he gets hot,” Montoyo said. “I don’t want to put that much pressure on him, but that’s the No. 1 prospect in baseball. He can do stuff like that.”

Guerrero Jr. even got one up on his Hall of Fame pops, who was 21 years and 224 days old before he first homered in the big leagues. Vlad Jr. was just 20 and 59 days entering Tuesday’s game. Afterwards, the son said he would give both balls and the bat with which he hit them to his father, who had words of congratulations in a post-game phone call.

“The first call was from him,” Vlad Jr. said. “He just said like he always told me, ‘Don’t look for home runs, they are going to come.’”

As much as he’s blessed with raw talent, Guerrero Jr. is dedicated to the craft of being a big-time hitter. While watching the Giants hit BP in the afternoon, he was taking mental notes of where he might want to hit the ball. Later, he told Montoyo that it was time to work on a post homer handshake, as if he knew this would be the night to debut it.

“I just like to come out here before the games just to see everything, especially how the ball flies,” Guerrero said. “Right now (the Giants) are hitting BP, but I like to be out here, to spend some time getting ready for the game.”

Ready he was, to deliver the first big bash of his career before the Bay Area crowd had barely settled in their seats.

With apologies to rookie Jays starter Trent Thornton, who got the first win of his career plus a couple of helpful singles, the rest of the night it was the Vladdy show, a string of plate appearances that went like this: Home run, single, walk, homer again and groundout. In his past 13 plate appearances, Vlad has made it on base nine times, three via walk.

As much as his first three weeks in the major leagues have been a learning curve, they also have been a delight for Guerrero, who has relished the opportunity to retrace the steps of his father. Most significantly, he’s enjoying getting on the road with his teammates and tasting that part of being a big leaguer.

“It feels good, especially your first year in the big leagues, you want to go to all those stadiums and see everything the way it looks for real and not just on TV,” Guerrero said. “Especially, I remember when I was younger, I remember my dad seeing all those parks. Now it’s my turn and I want to do that.”

Rather than feeling the pressure of his father’s rather long shadow, however, Vlad Jr. seems to be embracing it. His first road game was played in Anaheim where Vlad Sr. spent a good portion of his career and won an AL MVP.

His next road stop was in Texas, where Vlad Sr. was part of an AL Championship team.

And now stop three and the first home run where his dad blasted multiple moon shots as part of the Midsummer Classic.

“I don’t have many memories. I was like eight years old,” Guerrero said of that memorable display in which his father hit 17 homers to beat then-Jay Alex Rios in the final. “I probably remember that he won.”

He won’t forget this night, however. Not many who saw it will.

“This is the first of many,” Vlad Guerrero Sr. tweeted before the game was over. “I’m proud of you, boy.”

Mi hijo este es el primero de muchos, orgulloso de ti negro. || This is the first of many, im proud of you boy. 💪🏾 https://t.co/8zzj9iOPIY

— Guerrero became the youngest player in Blue Jays history to hit a home run (20 years, 59 days). Previously the youngest was dual sport athlete Danny Ainge (20 years, 77 days).

— Vlad became the third youngest player in MLB history to hit his first two career home runs in the same game. Only Brian McCall in 1962 (19 yrs, 248 days) and Manny Machado in 2012 (20 yrs, 35 days) were younger.

— With his second home run of the game, became the first Blue Jays player to hit two homers of at least 110mph in the same game in the Statcast era (which began in 2015.

— His father, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. only had two career homers at Oracle Park in 22 games played.